1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus such as a digital camera, a digital video camera, and a mobile phone with a digital camera, which include a function of shooting a still image and a moving image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Imaging apparatuses such as a digital camera, a digital video camera, and a mobile phone with a digital camera, which include a function of shooting a still image and a moving image are configured so that, because of digitization of image signals, a still image and a moving image can be easily shot by mode switching. More specifically, if a digital image is continuously shot and the shot images are subjected to inter-frame compression, then a moving image is obtained, while if a digital image is not continuously shot, then a still image is obtained.
If either one of still-image shooting and moving-image shooting is determined by mode setting through switching of a switch, a photo opportunity is inevitably missed. Therefore, there is known an imaging apparatus that simultaneously performs the still-image shooting and the moving-image shooting (for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-057378). However, simultaneous shooting of the still image and the moving image causes a data amount of images to become enormous, and thus arrangement of the images becomes complicated. Generally, by mode switching using the switch, a mode for the still image or for the moving image is set and then the still image or the moving image is shot.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-236883 describes an imaging apparatus capable of switching between a shooting mode and a reproducing mode depending on a shooting attitude. More specifically, the imaging apparatus has a built-in shooting-attitude detection sensor, and is configured to set the shooting mode if the shooting attitude is horizontal (if the imaging apparatus is held in a horizontal attitude) and to set the reproducing mode if the shooting attitude is vertical (if the imaging apparatus is held in a vertical attitude).
The publication of the patent application also describes a configuration in which if the shooting attitude is horizontal, then the mode is changed to the shooting mode, and if the shooting attitude is vertical and is returned to the horizontal shooting attitude within a predetermined time, then it is changed to the reproducing mode.
In the configuration described in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-236883, it is possible to switch between the shooting mode and the reproducing mode while the imaging apparatus is held by one hand. However, a display unit such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) provided in the backside of the imaging apparatus is generally a landscape-oriented screen, and is changed to a portrait-oriented display screen if the imaging apparatus is held vertically. Therefore, in the configuration in which the reproducing mode is set when the imaging apparatus is held vertically, a landscape-oriented shot image shot when the imaging apparatus is held horizontally is reproduced on a portrait-oriented liquid crystal display, resulting in a hard-to-view display with unnatural feeling.
Moreover, in the configuration in which the shooting attitude is changed to vertical and is returned to the horizontal shooting attitude within the predetermined time and then the reproducing mode is set, the predetermined time has to be waited after the shooting attitude is changed to vertical, which requires a time for mode switching. Besides, there may easily occur an erroneous operation in which returning to the horizontal shooting attitude happens before the predetermined time passes.
Urgency in the mode switching between the shooting mode and the reproducing mode is not particularly need. On the contrary, if the mode switching between a still-image shooting mode and a moving-image shooting mode requires time, then a photo opportunity may be missed. Therefore, for the mode switching between the still-image shooting mode and the moving-image shooting mode, it is not possible to use the configuration of switching between the modes by changing the attitude to the vertical shooting attitude and then returning the attitude to the horizontal shooting attitude within the predetermined time.